1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical cut guides.
2. Description of the Related Art
During an orthopedic procedure, an anatomical structure such as bone may be cut to allow implantation of a prosthesis. To ensure such cuts are properly positioned, and that adjacent tissue is not unnecessarily damaged, surgical instruments called cut guides are removably secured relative to the resection site and are used to guide a cutting tool to make appropriate cuts on the relevant tissue, e.g., bone.
Typical cut guides are made entirely of a surgical grade material, such as stainless steel, which is strong enough to be able to withstand the mechanical forces and the abrasive wear transferred to it by a cutting tool, such as a spinning drill bit, an oscillating saw, or a reciprocating saw. However, these cut guides are expensive to manufacture because the entire cut guide is made of a material of sufficient durability to act as a bearing for a moving cutting instrument. Further, these cut guides are reused because they are too expensive to be disposed of after a single use. For these cutting guides to be reusable, the cut guide must be properly cleaned and sterilized before reuse. Cleaning and sterilizing methods create additional costs and can be time consuming.
An example of a cut guide made of two separate materials is iJig® Pre-Navigated Instrumentation, available from Conformis, Inc. of Burlington, Mass. (iJig® is a registered trademark of Conformis, Inc. of Burlington, Mass.). This guide is a patient specific instrument and is customized to fit a particular patient's anatomy. The Conformis iJig® guide comprises a template made from an inexpensive material, such as plastic, and a guide made from a hard material, such as metal. The metal guide is attached to the template in an appropriate location and orientation to prevent a cutting tool from contacting the template when using the cutting tool to make appropriate cuts on a section of tissue. For example, a protective metal guide sheath lines a guide cavity of the template, which receives a drill bit therethrough, to provide a continuous bearing surface to guide the drill bit. Alternatively, a protective metal plate covers a planar guide surface of the template, which guides a cutting tool, to provide a continuous bearing surface to guide a cutting tool, such as a saw during a resection.